


The Cabin In Wisconsin

by bavarian_angel



Category: Chicago Med, Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Cancer, Family Feels, Gen, Hospitals, Medical Conditions, Memories, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:00:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27844873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bavarian_angel/pseuds/bavarian_angel
Summary: The Halstead brothers are facing the hardest time of their lives. Not in a hospital, not in a police district, but together until the end.
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Will Halstead
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67





	The Cabin In Wisconsin

**Author's Note:**

> I'm slightly nervous posting this. I have no idea if people want to read it or not, please let me know.
> 
> Please check tags for possible triggers!

“Okay, who’s up for Molly’s?”

“You still owe me that beer, Ruzek...”

Jay rubbed his tired eyes as he shut down his computer, his colleagues’ voices subdued in the background. Even though it had been a quiet week for Intelligence, mostly getting paperwork done, he felt like he had run a marathon every single day. The tiredness, combined with the drilling headache in the back of his head, was enough for Jay to know that he was probably coming down with something. He just wasn’t sure if it was normal to see his turned off computer screen times two. Closing his eyes, Jay shook his head franticly to get rid of the strange image.

“You okay, Jay?”

Opening his eyes again, he looked up at Hailey, relieved that his vision had returned to normal and that there was only one of her. However, that one seemed more than concerned when he took his time to answer.

“Yeah, sure... just my head. Feels a bit off. I think I might come down with something...”

“You did get your flu shot, right?” Hailey asked, slightly scrutinizing him with her look. Everybody knew about Jay’s fear of needles and how hard it was to convince him every year to keep up with his medicals.

“Do you really think Will would have let me slip through? Nah, it’s probably nothing. I’ll just sleep it off over the weekend.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Now quit worrying and go, have a drink on me at Molly’s.”

~*~

After popping a couple of Advil, Jay had hoped for a restful night, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. The headache didn’t ease up at all and by 2am nausea had also settled in. He managed another two hours of fitful sleep, until he lost the fight against his stomach and just about made it to the bathroom.

At least his headache got slightly better as Jay watched last night’s dinner go down the drain. Feeling cold sweat running down his back, soaking his tshirt, he tried to get back on his feet. Dizziness made the room spin around him and as he made his way back to his bed, Jay pushed away any thought that this might be more than a simple bug.

Good thing was that he didn’t have any plans this weekend and if he managed to get more sleep in, it sure would be gone by Monday, or at least better so that he didn’t have to call in sick. Worst case scenario would be calling Will.

Jay knew that his big brother would be all over him though, playing doctor all day long. As long as possible, Jay would fight to avoid that.

~*~

48 hours - and several painkillers as well as vomiting attacks - later, Jay slowly made his way to his kitchen. The dizziness was still there, but as long as he took it step by step, he was able to walk the short distance without needing to hang onto the wall.

He hated to admit that he didn’t feel any better than Friday night, but he was still pushing back the decision about going to work. He might have to call Hailey though as he at least admitted to himself that it wouldn’t be wise to drive in his condition.

Hopefully, some coffee would help him feel more alive, but when Jay reached into the cupboard to take out a cup, not only did the double vision return, his arm started to feel numb. Unable to really grab and lift the weight of the cup, Jay had to watch it fall from his hand and shatter into pieces on the floor.

Half an hour later, Jay had called Voight and was sitting in a taxi on his way to Chicago Med.

~*~

Usually Jay did all he could to avoid stepping foot into a hospital, but even in his stubbornness he knew that he needed to be checked out. And there was only one person he was willing to allow an examination.

When Jay entered the ED, it seemed to be a quiet time. Nobody was rushing around, no alarms were ringing and Jay was at least lucky in one thing today - Will was standing by the administration desk, going over something on his tablet with Maggie. Before Jay could think about how to approach his brother, Will looked up, his face immediately falling into a frown.

“Hey Jay, what you’re doing here?”

“Will... do you have a minute?” Jay let his eyes wander between Will and Maggie, hoping his behavior didn’t seem too strange to them.

“I let you know as soon as I hear something about it, Dr. Halstead.” Maggie nodded, obviously feeling that it was time to give the two brothers some room, before she stepped over to the computer, resuming her work.

Will was still frowning when he took in the state of his younger brother. Jay couldn’t hide his pale face and as he didn’t have any badge on him, it was clear that he wasn’t here for anything job related.

“Jay, what’s wrong?” Will asked, his voice low so that he wouldn’t attract any attention, but it was heavily loaded with concern.

“Not feeling good at all, Will,” Jay mumbled, his hand rubbing his forehead where another headache made itself present, “I think something’s wrong, man.”

Those two sentences were enough to let all alarm bells ring in Will’s mind. This was Jay, his brother, who had refused treatment before, after being shot because he didn’t think it was necessary. For him to admit those things, it must have been really bad.

“Alright, I don’t have any patient right now, so... Maggie? Any free exam rooms?”

Obviously surprised by the question, Maggie looked up, starring at the two brothers for a moment before nodding towards the back of the ED. “Exam room 6 is free...”

“Thanks.” Will picked up his tablet and led Jay into the room, immediately closing the curtains behind them. Without saying anything, he simply watched Jay slowly taking off his jacket. What should have been a smooth motion, looked sluggish and slightly uncoordinated.

Jay was about to hop onto the bed in the middle of the room, but his wrists suddenly gave in and if it hadn’t been for Will standing right next to him, he would have definitely fallen down.

“Woah... Alright?”

Will waited until Jay nodded before he started to take his blood pressure and listened to his lungs and heart.

“Okay, tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m so fucking tired, man. And I have these almost constant headaches, makes it hard to think about anything else. I thought I was just coming down with something. Saturday morning I started throwing up, barely kept anything down over the weekend.”

“Still nauseous?” Will checked the lymph nodes in Jay’s neck. That touch was also enough for him to know that he didn’t have a fever, despite his skin being slightly clammy.

“Yeah, still the same...”

Will reached for the small pen light in the pocket of his scrubs, scrutinizing his little brother.

“Come on, Jay. There’s more to it, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

Jay couldn’t hold back a sigh. “Dizziness... double vision from time to time... and sometimes my arms and hands go all numb and weak. Couldn’t even grab a cup for coffee this morning.”

The concerned frown was back on Will’s face as he checked Jay’s pupils with the light before making him follow his finger. Finally he leaned back, sighing.

“To be honest, Jay, I don’t like the sound of that at all. Can’t say for sure, but doesn’t look like a virus or something. How long have you had these symptoms for?”

“The tiredness and headaches for about two weeks, the other stuff started Friday.”

“Okay. I just want to run some tests, checking as much as we can. I’ll get Maggie to draw some blood and also give you something for the pain and nausea. I’ll try to get you up for an MRI as soon as possible, but that could be an hour or two... Alright?”

Jay nodded, looking up at his big brother as Will lay his hand in his neck, giving him a short squeeze of reassurance.

~*~

Will had just finished with another patient, once again checking his tablet if Jay’s blood test results had already come in, when Maggie called for him.

“Will, radiology just called, Jay can go up now.”

“Thanks, Maggie.”

He immediately made his way over to exam room 6. Knowing Jay and his fear of hospitals and medical procedures, Will wanted to bring him up himself. He had almost reached the door of the exam room, when there was suddenly crashing sound coming from inside.

Sudden fear grabbed Will’s chest as he rushed over and pulled open the door and the curtain. What he saw would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Jay was lying on the floor, his whole body shaking in a heavy seizure.

“Help! I need help in here!”


End file.
